the washing cycle

The subject of the invention is a device for setting the dishwasher door ajar automatically after completion of the washing cycle, intended for use as an external device placed at a dishwasher.

In commonly known and applied dishwashers, after completion of the washing and polishing process there is high humidity in the chamber, which negatively affects the final drying cycle after the process of polishing the dishes. A method of eliminating humidity from the dishwasher chamber consists in setting its door ajar to make a gap, already at the final stage of its operation, namely during the process of drying the dishes after polishing or automatically after conclusive completion of dishwasher operation. Not opening the door of a dishwasher immediately after completion of its operation causes steam to condense, and in consequence stains appear on the dishes, as a result of calcium particles depositing on them. On the other hand, leaving washed dishes in the dishwasher without opening the door for a longer period causes some harmful fungi, namely black yeast, to breed in the dishwasher chamber, especially on its rubber elements and waste filters. This problem occurs most often in a situation where one turns on a dishwasher before leaving the household for a longer period, not wanting to leave dirty dishes, and then leaves without waiting for the washing process to complete.

Known from the German patent description DE 3345604 is a device for a flap door, especially of a dishwasher, which sets the door of the dishwasher ajar at a chosen time, making a gap between its body and the door. The device in an embodiment has the form of a mechanism constructed of a connector with a built-in spring. One end of the connector is attached to the dishwasher body, and the other end is attached with articulation to a fastener with rotary mounting to a slat section of the door located in its lower comer. When the door is opened, the spring of the connector is extended, thus increasing the connector length. While the door is being opened, the connector is maintained in a straight line with the fastener. When the door is closed, the fastener with rotary mounting, connecting the door to the connector, has a position forced by a pin attached to the door, in which the connector is positioned at an angle to the fastener. The fastener with the connector are positioned in a position of a line with a single break. The door is pressed against the body with a lock. At the moment when the unit controlling the dryer operation releases the door lock, the fastener and the connector are positioned in the shortest straight line between the mounting of the fastener to the door and the mounting of the connector to the body, which makes it possible, with a given length of the connector, to open the door to a gap. The spring extension strength is chosen so that it basically counterbalances the door weight, keeping it in a position of desired opening with a gap. A device according to this invention constitutes, like the solutions below, a structure fully integrated with the device into which it is built.

Known from the European patent application EP6870632 is a dishwasher equipped with a system for setting the door ajar automatically after completion of the dish polishing process. The system is constructed of a bolt mounted in sliding manner in the dishwasher body, blocked in the latch of a lock built into the dishwasher door. The bolt is moved in a sliding manner, in the direction perpendicular to the dishwasher door, by an electric motor through a worm gear and a toothed gear. Extension of the bolt in the forward direction, with blocked latch of the lock in which it is embedded, causes the dishwasher door to be set ajar.

Known from the German patent description DE102005028449 B4 is a dishwasher equipped with a bolt lock whose bolt, blocked in a latch located in the dishwasher door, is mounted at the end of a slat, sliding in the direction perpendicular to the dishwasher door, equipped with a toothed bar engaged with a toothed wheel of a motor reducer. Extension of the slat in the forward direction, with the lock bolt blocked in the latch, causes the dishwasher door to be set ajar. A lock according to this solution cooperates with the dishwasher controller, which sets two positions of bolt extension, and thus two widths of setting the door ajar.

Also known from the European patent EP2280632 is a dishwasher with a device for opening the door to a gap, made of an arm extendable in the forward direction, ended with a bolt blocked in a lock of the dishwasher door. In this solution, a slat is connected to a hinge mechanism of the dishwasher door through connectors laid several times over pulleys.

All the above solutions constitute structures built into a dishwasher by its manufacturer. On the market there are at least several tens of dishwasher models which are not equipped with systems for setting their doors ajar after completion of the polishing process or automatically after conclusive completion of dishwasher operation. In these dishwashers this action must be performed by the user.

Presently, basically all dishwashers have a flap door pressed against the dishwasher body with a closing/ pulling mechanism contained in hinges, therefore they do not have a manually actuated lock blocking the dishwasher door, which must be manually released after completion of the washing process, by the user, in order to open the door.

The purpose of the invention is a solution in the form of an external device put against a dishwasher, which opens the dishwasher door after completion of the washing process. The solution has application in all dishwashers in which a flap door opening downwards is pressed with a hinge mechanism against the dishwasher wall with the loading/unloading opening. The solution is not intended for dishwashers in which, for the purpose of opening their door, a lock has a manually released latch mechanism or other similar mechanism for bolting the door.

A device for setting the dishwasher door ajar after completion of the washing cycle according to the invention is characterized by the fact that it is constructed of a base, equipped with a bearing surface located on its front and used for holding it in place, behind which an actuating bar of an electric linear actuator attached to the base, connected to a regulator controlling it, assumes a position set by the regulator within the range of its stroke, where a flexible connector is attached at the end of the actuating bar, and a shaped block, constituting an expansion element, is attached to the flexible connector.

Advantageously, the flexible connector is attached to the actuating bar by an extension arm whose upper end is attached to the actuating bar of the actuator and the lower end is connected to the flexible connector.

The base has the form of two walls with edges joined at the right angle, where the electric actuator is located on one of them and its actuating bar protrudes beyond the edge of the wall of the base from which the second wall spreads downwards, where the back surface of the second wall of the base, in front of which the actuating bar is extended, constitutes the bearing surface of the base.

The essence of the solution consists in that when the base is supported against the upper front edge of the dishwasher/countertop, pulling out the shaped block, placed in the dishwasher beforehand, by pulling the connector attached to it by advance of the actuating bar of the actuator in the direction forward, i.e. away from the dishwasher, opens the dishwasher door by placing the shaped block permanently in the gap created between the door and the panel with the loading/unloading opening of the dishwasher.

An advantage of the solution is an uncomplicated construction that can be fitted on most of the dishwashers existing on the market that do not have an automatic door opening system. The solution makes it possible to automate the dishwasher door opening process without intervention and without integrating it with the dishwasher construction, including its control system. The solution extends the service life of a dishwasher.

The subject of the invention is presented in a drawing, where fig. 1 presents the device in the side view with the actuating bar extended from the actuator body in the first embodiment, fig. 2 presents the device from fig. 1 with the actuating bar slid in, fig. 3 presents the device in the top view in the first or second embodiment, fig. 4 presents the device in the side view, embedded on a dishwasher in a position with the actuating bar slid into the actuator body and with the dishwasher door closed in the first embodiment, fig. 5 presents the device in the side view, embedded on a dishwasher in a position of device operation where the dishwasher door is set ajar, in the first embodiment, fig. 6 presents the device in the side view with the actuating bar extended from the actuator body in the second embodiment, fig. 7 presents the device from fig. 6 with the actuating bar slid in, fig. 8 presents the device in the side view, embedded on a dishwasher in a position with the actuating bar slid into the actuator body and with the dishwasher door closed in the second embodiment, and fig. 9 presents the device in the side view, embedded on a dishwasher in a position of device operation where the dishwasher door is set ajar, in the second embodiment.

A device for setting the dishwasher door ajar after completion of the washing cycle in the first embodiment according to the invention is constructed of the base 1, having two walls la, lb with edges joined at the right angle. The base 1 in the side view has the shape of the letter“L” arranged horizontally, whose lower arm is directed downwards. The electric linear actuator 2, arranged flatwise, is attached to the top surface of the base 1. The body of the actuator 2 on the base 1 is attached with the front at its front edge in a position where the symmetry axis of its actuating bar 2a is parallel to the surface of the base 1 to which it is attached, and perpendicular to its front edge at which the wall lb of the base 1 is located, spreading downwards. The electric linear actuator 2 is connected to the regulator 3 controlling its operation. The regulator 3, together with a battery power supply system, is attached to the base 1, at the back behind the actuator 2. The back surface of the wall lb of the base 1, directed vertically downwards, constitutes the bearing surface lc of the base 1 of the device. The actuator 2 is attached to the base 1 in a position where its actuating bar 2a, in a position slid into the body of the actuator 2, assumes a position where its end protrudes beyond (in front of) the front edge of the base 1. In front of the front edge of the base 1, the actuating bar 2a of the linear actuator 2 has two positions set with the regulator 3 within the range of its extension (stroke). In the first position the actuating bar 2a, protruding with its end beyond the front edge of the base 1, is basically entirely or definitely mostly slid into the body of the actuator 2, and in the second position it is extended from the body of the actuator 2, and thus beyond the front surface of the base 1, to a length set by the regulator 3. The flexible connector 4 is attached at the end of the actuating bar 2a of the actuator 2. The shaped block 5, constituting an expansion element, is attached to the flexible connector 4 at its second, free end. The shaped block 5 has the form of two combined flexible balls. The shaped block 5 can have any other shape which makes it possible to expand a gap between two surfaces where one of them is pressed against the other with a hinge mechanism. For example, the shaped block 5, apart from the oval form, can also have the form of a wedged body or a body with a wedged insert, and should be made of a material which does not cause scratches on the elements between which it is pulled. For example, the shaped block can be made of expanded polystyrene, elastomer, or other plastics, as well as natural materials, suitable for realization of the presented task. The connector 4 can constitute, for example, a cord or tape made of plastic. The base 1 can have any other structure, panel structure, panel and frame structure, or frame structure.

The principle of operation of the device is as follows. The device is placed at a dishwasher so that its base 1 is laid on the top wall of the dishwasher 7, at its front edge, or on the countertop when the dishwasher 7 is built-in, in a position where the base 1 is placed against the top and front surface at the front upper edge. With the actuating bar 2a of the electric linear actuator 2 slid into the body, the shaped block 5, constituting an expansion element, hung on the connector 4, is placed inside the dishwasher 7, and then the dishwasher door 7a is closed. Due to the length of the connector 4, the shaped block 5 inside the dishwasher 7 assumes a position at the seal of the door 7a. When the actuating bar 2a starts to extend from the body of the actuator 2 with the base 1 supported with the bearing surface lc on the front upper edge of the dishwasher 7 or the countertop, it causes the connector 4 to tighten, and, in succession, the door 7a of the dishwasher 7 to be set ajar as a consequence of the shaped block 5 wedging into the gap between the door 7a and the wall of the body of the dishwasher 7, causing the gap to widen. With a set length of the connector 4, the stroke length of the actuating bar 2a of the actuator 2 is set so that it stops at the moment when the shaped block 5 permanently assumes a position creating a desired gap width between the door 7a and the wall of the dishwasher 7 with the loading/unloading opening. The time of actuation of the electrical linear actuator 2 is set in the regulator 5 controlling its operation, so that it is actuated immediately after completion of the washing cycle.

The device for setting the dishwasher door ajar after completion of the washing cycle in the second embodiment according to the invention is constructed as in the first embodiment, except that the flexible connector 4 is attached to the actuating bar 2a by an extension arm 6 facing in downward direction, whose upper end is attached to the actuating bar 2a, and whose lower end is connected to the flexible connector 4. The extension arm 6 is attached to the actuating bar 2a at the right angle. The attachment of the connector 4 to the actuating bar 2a by the extension arm 6 has the purpose of lowering its position in relation to the base 1 in order to eliminate pulling of the connector 4 on the lower front edge of the top panel of the dishwasher/countertop or their another horizontal edge located at that place, or to reduce the forces of friction between these element while extending the actuating bar 2a and opening the door 7a of the dishwasher 7. A solution according to this embodiment is especially advantageous with a high thickness of countertops or top panels of the dishwasher. A device according to the second embodiment is operating analogously as a device according to the first embodiment.